Sanding machine



.Fufiy 22, 1924.

1,502,130 J. A. ST. CLAIR SANDING MACHINE Filed Dec. '7, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l z; v f l 1 v I I w Am I I y l INVENTOR ATTORNEY July 22,

, 1,502,130 J. A. ST. CLAIR smwme MACHINE Filed Dec. 7, 19 22 z'shets-sheen fi lNVE NTOR.

Patented duty 22, I924.

entree stares JOHN A, ST. CLAIR, O'F INDIANAPOLIS, IN I D IANA SANDING MACHINE.

Application filed December To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A. ST; CLAIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Sanding Machine, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine by means of which articles such as certain type-s of saw handles, rake and hoe handles, etc., which are symmetrical, or rotatable, about a transportable a-Xis, may.

be automatically sanded and polished.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. Fig. 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 is a side elevatlon of a machlne em bodying my invention.

In the drawings, 10, 10 and 11, 11 indicate two pairs of parallel shafts which, in the present instance, carry pairs of pulleys 10, 10', 10", 10", 11', 11, 11", 11". EX- tending around pulleys 10, 10', is a. flexible belt 12 carrying an abrading outer face, and extending around pulleys 11, 11 is a belt 13 having a roughened or article-gripping outer face. Conveniently, this may be an abrading face as in the case of belt 12. Shafts 10 and 11 are rotated in the same direction and shaft 10 is rotated at a considerably higher speed than shaft 11. For convenience, in future reference, belt 12 will be designated as the abrading belt and belt 13 as the feed belt.

At a convenient point between the pairs of shafts 10-11, 10-11, I arrange pairs of backing idlers 1 1, 15, so as to form athroat 16 into which the articles 17, to be sanded, may be directed between the abrading belt 12 and the feed belt 13, the pairs of backing idlers being sufliciently separated to form a fairly constricted throat as compared with the diameter of the articles 17.

Leading to and from throat 16 is an article guide 18 which'is conveniently of tubular form and which may, if desired, be a continuous tube, cut away at opposite sides to give access, by the belts 12 and 13, to the interior of the tube at diametrically opposite points.

Guide 18, instead of being set parallel with shafts 10 and 11, is set at a slight angle thereto, although in a plane parallel with the common planes of the two pairs of shafts, the angularity of setting being defeed belt.

7, i922. "Serial No- 605,335.

termined by the rate of automatic'feed desired and the direction ofmovement of the In order to take care of the dust rising from the operation of the apparatus, it is preferable that theabrading belt 12 move downwardly at the abrading point, and consequently the feed belt must move upwardly and the guide is, therefore, inclined upwardly toward its discharge end. 7

In order that the sanding and polishing of the article may be accomplished as a continuous operation, pulleys 10" and 11" carry polishing belts 19 and 20 respectively, which are backed with backing idlers like the idlers 14 and 15, and the guide 18 is continued to a point slightly beyond these belts. These belts may be provided with a polishing coating, such for, instance" as paraflin.

The idlers 1 1- and 15 are preferably carried in suitable supporting blocks which may be adjusted toward and from each other, to vary the size of the throat 16, by means of suitable oppositely threaded adjusting screws 21 and hand wheels 22.

In operation, the operator inserts the end of. the article through the guide 18 into the throat 16, whereupon the feed belt causes a rotation and translation of the article along the guide, and the abrading belt abrades the surface in the desired manner, said belt yielding both longitudinally and laterally to conform to the conformation of adjacent portions of the articles as the same are driven past the abrading point.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sanding machine comprising an abradingbelt and cooperating feed belt, means for driving said two belts at different speeds and in opposite directions at adjacent portions, and an article guide lead ing to and from a point between adjacent portions of said belts at an angle, other than right angle, to the direction of travel of one of said belts.

2. A sanding machine comprising an abrading belt and cooperating feed belt, means for driving said two belts at different speeds and in opposite directions at adjacent portions, a pair of backing means cooperating with adjacent portions of the two belts to form an article -receivin throat, and an article guide leading to an from said throat at an angle, other than 4. A sanding machine comprising an abrading belt and cooperating; feed belt, means for driving said two belts at different speeds and in opposite directions at adjacent portions, and an article guide leading to and from a point between adjacent portions of the belt at an angle to the direction of travel of said belts.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this lth day of December, A. I). one thousand nine 2 hundred and twenty two.

JOHN A. ST. CLAIR 

